Most of the apparent conflicts between modern science and the Bible have been
resolved.1.2 Of those remaining, some may be resolved by assuming that God
has allowed certain numerical codes to be used as a
key to prophecy and as evidence of divine inspiration.
Many Bible commentaries3,4 and concordances5 contain
suggestions that the numbers 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 12, and 40,
and certain combinations of these numbers may have
special symbolic or cryptic significance in some Bible
passages. In particular, the number seven appears to
have special importance.

While the account of creation given in Genesis can
be correlated with the stages in the creation of the earth
and its inhabitants as revealed by scientific studies,6
it seems evident from modern science that the separate
acts of creation were not performed in six ordinary days.7
In the following it will be shown that there is
some justification for assuming that the reference to six
days of work and the seventh day of rest has a symbolical meaning in addition to the correlation
mentioned above.

There is no real proof that early man could not have
lived the number of years attributed in Genesis 5 to
the patriarchs.6 However, there is apparently no archeological or paleontological evidence' that ancient
man ever lived much longer than the 120 years mentioned in Genesis 6:3. A study of the sequence of
numbers given in Genesis 5 for the ages of the patriarchs from Adam to Noah suggests that there may be a
cryptic message in these numbers relative to God's divine plan for the history of man.

The age of the earth is about three billion years ac
cording to the evidence from radioactive rocks and
other geological data.7 However, the Bible is primari ary of remission. A tradition in the house of Elias, A. D. 200, states that the world is to endure 6000 years; 2000 before the law, 2000 under the law, and 2000 under Messiah."

In 2 Peter 3:5-8 we read that since the creation of the earth by God the heavens and earth have been kept
in store against the day of judgment and that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand
years as one day. Similarly in the Old Testament we find statements that a thousand years in God's sight
are but as yesterday when it is past (Psalm 90:4) in reference to the coming final judgment of man by his
Creator.

In Revelation 6 the opening of the six seals in order
appears to have some symbolical significance in con
nection with the history of man, the sixth seal corresponding to the epoch which includes the great tri
bulation and other signs mentioned in Matthew 24. The opening of the seventh seal (Rev. 8) is followed by silence in heaven for a period as a "solemn intro
duction to the--eternal Sabbath-rest of the people of God."+ The seven trumpets which are sounded in Re
velation 8-11 also appear to have a symbolical meaning, the final judgment following the sounding of the sev
enth trumpet. Finally, the seven last plagues which af flict mankind as the seven angels pour out the seven vials of wrath (Rev. 15-16) parallel the judgments
of the seven trumpets and thus also appear to have a cryptic meaning.4 However,
the Bible is primarily concerned with the spiritual history of man which
began about 4000 B. C. when the Semitic ancestors of
Abraham began to "call upon the name of the Lord",
the God of Creation. Modern civilization and the re
corded history of man also began about 4000 B. C.8
The chronology of the Old Testament as given by
the genealogies, the terms of the judges and kings,
the prophecy in Daniel regarding the time of the Mes
siah indicates a period of about 4000 years between
Adam and Christ.

According to Jamieson, Fausset and Brown3 (p.
598) "TheJewish Rabbis thought,as the world was cre
ated in six days and on the seventh God rested, so there
would be six millenary periods, followed by a sabbati
cal millennium. Out of seven years every seventh is the
the year of remission, so out of the seven thousand years
of the world the seventh millenary shall be the millen-

The above references indicate that there is a Biblical
basis for correlating the six days of work in Genesis 1 with the 6000 years of man's spiritual history from 4000 B. C. to about 2000 A. D., while the seventh day of rest corresponds to the promised millennium in which world order and peace is established for a time under Christ's reign. From Revelation 20 it would ap pear that the seventh millennium is to close with the final judgment. This sevenfold pattern of history is woven into other Bible passages as shown below.

In Genesis there is a peculiar association of the and number seven with the name of
Lamech. In chapter 4 verse 24 we read: "If Cain shall be avenged seven f old, truly
Lamech seventy and sevenfold." The La
mech of Genesis 4 is descended from Cain and is number seven in the genealogy beginning with Adam. In Genesis 5 the genealogy of the descendents of Adam through his son Seth lists a Lamech who lived 777 years. If there is a hidden meaning to this repetition of number 7, perhaps it is to be found in the gene alogy of the patriarchs.

When the ages of the patriarchs from Adam to
David are plotted on graph paper by succeeding generations, a definite continuity becomes evident as shown
by Fig. 31 on page 241 of "Modern Science and Christian Faith".6 The graph shows a rapid decline in ages
after Noah and the flood. While a curve can be drawn
showing a steady downward trend, the decline occurs
in steps from an average of about 930 for the patriarchs from Adam to Noah (excluding Enoch and
Lamech) to a level of about 450 from Arphaxed to Eber
followed by a drop to an average of 236 from Peleg
to Serug and then by a gradual decline from 205 to
about 70 from Terah to David. Such a regular pattern
seems to lend justification to the assumption that the
early patriachs from Adam to Noah actualy lived about
900 years. Nevertheless, the longevity of the patriarchs
remains something of a problem for modern science
to explain.

It is peculiar that the average age of the patriarchs
from Adam to Lamech at the time of the births of the
sons listed in the King James Bible is about 100 years,
the minimum age being 65 and the maximum 187. The
Septuagint text gives a slightly different set of ages
at birth of the sons, the average being about 180 years,
the minimum 162 years, and the maximum 230 years.
This suggests either a slower rate of physical rnaturing or else a shorter number of days in the so-called
"year" at the time of the patriarchs. The longevity of
the patriarchs and the unusually large number of
years before the birth of the sons mentioned in the
genealogy, presumably the first born in most cases
except where death or other circumstances changed t e
line of descent, are therefore two problems which may
have a common solution.

When we begin to look for some clue to the solution of these problems, the possibility that age was
reckoned in terms of new moons rather than changes
of season or years must be considered. There are about
30 days between new moons and approximately 12
new moons in one year. Therefore, we try dividing
the ages of the patriarchs by 12 and discover that the
greatest age would be 81 years and the smallest age 30
years. These life spans are well within the normal range
of longevity of man as recorded in medical history.
However, the figure of 30 for the total years of Enoch
suggests another possible interpretation of the genealogy and ages in Genesis 5.

Enoch is the seventh man from Adam in this genealogy (cf. Jude 14) and receives special attention in
Genesis 5:24 where we read "And Enoch walked with
God; and he was not; for God took him". Enoch is
translated while yet a young man relative to the life
span of the other patriarchs. If we assume that Enoch
represents a type of Christ (i. c., a prophetic symbol for
Christ), then Enoch's translation at the age of 365
"years" corresponds to Christs's ascension into heaven
at the age of about 33 years. If the total years of the
other patriarchs are multiplied by the ration 33/365,
the average age at death becomes 84 instead of 930
and is therefore closer to the average life span of men
today in very healthy living conditions. This ratio also
brings the ages at birth of the sons down to the
range of 15 to 21 years according to the Septuagint
text, which isareasonable range considering that marriage probably occurred soon after puberty in early
times. It will be noted that the minimum age of a
patriarch at the birth of a son according to the King
James (or Hebrew) text would be reduced to 6 years
by applying this ratio (cf. Ramm,1 p. 341). We are thus
led to favor the Septuagint text in regard to the ages
at the birth of the first son. The discrepancies in these
ages between the Septuagint, the Samaritans and the
Hebrew texts are in general such as might be accounted for by errors in copying. Since an error of
omission is more likely than the error of addition of a
digit in copying a number, the ages listed in the Septuagint text are presumably more accurate( see Table
1).

Another patriarch who receives special attention
is Enos, for after his birth "then began men to call
upon the name of the Lord" (Gen. 4:26). The Lamech
of Genesis 5 is also peculiar in that he lived only about
750 years (777 years in the King James text and 753
years in the Septuagint text) whereas all of the other
patriarchs except Enoch lived about 900 years. This
Lamech is number 7 from Enos and is the last of the
patriarchs before Noah and the flood. Noah is number
10 from Adam in the genealogy of Gensis 5.

If in this genealogy we associate Enos with the first
millennium of the spiritual history of mankind because " then men began to call upon the name of the
Lord", we find that four millenniums pass before
the appearance of Enoch, who typifies Christ, at the
beginning of the fifth millennium. Enoch is translated while yet a young man, relative to the normal
lifespan of the patriarchs, thus corresponding to
Christ's ascension into heaven at slightly more than 30
years of age. There are then three millenniums from
Enoch to Lamech, the latter corresponding to the seventh or sabbatical millenium in which Christianity
reigns.

Finally, from Revelation 20 we may conclude that
the sabbatical millennium is followed by "a little season" in which Satan is loosed again, corresponding to
the days of Noah when "the wickedness of man was
great in the earth". Noah is the last of the patriarchs
in the genealogy of Genesis 5 and is the tenth f rom
Adam. While there is evidence that a great f lood similar to that described in Genesis 7 and 8 occurred in
the Mesopotamian valley during the early history of man,6 it is possible that
the account of Noah and the
flood in Genesis may have additional significance as
a representation of the end of the world and the
final judgment (Matt. 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-30).

The whole of the above interpretation of Genesis 5
is outlined in Table II. The significance of the number
7 in this table is emphasized by boldface type. The
number 365 is also considered to be significant not
only as the number of days in a year but also as representing the age of Christ as explained above.

Table II. Interpretation of Genesis 5

The literal meaning of the word Adam is "human
being". The word Seth signifies "the seed appointed"
(Gen. 4:25), Noah means "rest", and the word Jared
is from the Hebrew yeredh meaning "descent". These
meanings of the names of the patriarchs have been
incorporated in the interpretation of Table II. In addition, we note that Enos means "man", Mahalaleel
means "praise of God", and Enoch means "dedicated".

In support of the above interpretation of Genesis
5 we shall show that a division of man's spiritual history into 7 epochs ending in the sabbatical millennium
and the final judgment can be correlated with the
opening of the seven seals in the "Apocalypse of John"
in Revelation. It may also be noted that a rather similar division of history into 10 periods from Adam to
the final judgment may be obtained by interpretation
from the "Apocalypse of Ten Weeks" in the apocryphal book of Enoch.9

8

I

The interpretation of Revelation 6-22 is as follows
:3,4

1. (4000-3000 B. C.) The event following the opening of the first seal is a vision of a conquering leader on a white horse, armed with a bow, and who is
presented with a crown (Rev. 6). Perhaps this is symbolic of man the hunter who was given dominion
over the animals of earth and told to subdue the earth
(Gen. 1). White is the symbol of conquering leaders.
This may also represent the scourge of tyrannical
rulers.

2. (3000-20W B. C.) Opening of the second seal
is followed by the vision of a red horse (symbolic of
war and bloodshed) with a rider who is given a great
sword and the power to take peace from the world so
that men should kill one another. This is symbolic of
war and its power to destroy men. Wars between
nations began in 3000-2000 B. C. with the Semites under Sargon conquering Sumeria in 2750-2550 B. C.

3. (2000-1000 B. C.) Opening of the third seal is
followed by the vision of a black horse (signifying
grief and mourning) with a rider who holds a pair
of balances accompanied by a voice telling of high
prices for wheat and barley (presumably resulting
from crop failure). This is symbolic of starvation and
the scourge of undernourishment in lands where the
methods of producing food are inadequate. Starvation
as the result of crop failure came to the Semitic peoples around 1600 B. C. at which time Joseph provided
for his father and brothers from the storehouses in
Egypt.

4. (1000 B. C. - 30 A. D.) Opening of the fourth
seal is followed by the vision of a pale horse (symbolical of disease and death) on which sat a rider whose
name was Death. This symbolizes the fourth great
scourge of mankind, pestilence and disease. The Israelites escaped the plagues which afflicted Egypt
just prior to the Exodus (c. 1200-1300 B. C.), and
Aaron stayed the plague after the rebellion of Korah
(Numbers 16) by burning incense, but the Israelites
were heavily smitten by the Bubonic plague when the
Philistines returned the ark of the covenant (c. 1050
B. C.,).6 Great plagues followed the gathering together
of the Israelites for numbering in the time of David
(c. 980 B. C.) (2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21). The
pale horse and rider are followed by Hell, the symbol of captivity and punishment. It was during the
period 800 B. C. to 500 B. C. that the people of Israel
and Judah were punished by captivity and exile under the Assyrians and Babylonians.

it is significant that these four scourges are presented as visions at the invitation "Come (and see)"
by each of the four beasts on the opening of each of the
four first seals. In Revelation 6:8 it is stated that
lipower was given unto them over the fourth part of
the earth, to kill with the sword (war), and with hunger, and with death (disease), and with the beasts
(some of them human) of the earth. These are the
four scourges which are also mentioned in Ezekiel
14:21 as "the sword, and the famine, and the noisome
beast, and the pestilence". These are among "the
beginning of sorrows" mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 24:7-8. Thus the history of man (in particular
of the Jews) is divided into four millenniums before
Christ and three following, corresponding to the division in the opening of the seals into 4 and 3. In the
oldest manuscripts of the Bible the words "and see"
are omitted after the word "come" uttered by each
of the four beasts, and the word "come" is not used
after opening of the 5th, 6th and 7th seals.3 Perhaps, therefore, we may interpret the word "come"
as heralding the coming of Christ at the end of the
fourth millennium.

5. (30-1000 A. D.) The opening of the fifth seal is
followed by the vision of the martyrs slain for the
Word of God. This presumably symbolizes the period
of persecution and martyrdom of the early disciples in
the years A. D. 30 to A. D. 311 as mentioned by Jesus
in Matthew 24:9; Luke 21:12, 16. It is implied in Revelation 6:11 that there will be other martyrs in the
centuries to follow.

6. (1000-2000 A. D.) The opening of the sixth seal
is followed by the signs mentioned by Christ in Matthew 24 as attending and following the great tribulation. Thus we find parallel mention of earthquake,
darkened sun and moon, falling stars, and fig tree.
Mention is also made of worldly men seeking cover in
caves and the rocks of the mountains, paralleling Isaiah's phophecy concerning the last days (Isaiah 2). In
Revelation 7 the elect are sealed and gathered from
the four quarters (winds) of the world as mentioned
by Jesus in Matthew 24:31.

7. (2000-3000 A. D.) The opening of the seventh
seal is followed by silence in heaven about the space
of half an hour. This is presumably the time of peace
and rest mentioned in Revelation 20. In Revelation 8,
after the opening of the seventh seal, a recapitulation
of the tribulation is given as the seven angels with the
seven trumpets sound their trumpets one by one while
the seven last judgments fall upon the earth. The infliction of four beginning tribulations is followed by
three more woes of which the last or seventh judgment will mark the finish of the mystery of God. Only
a third part of the world is destroyed on the sounding
of the first six trumpets, corresponding to Jesus'
promise that "for the elect's sake those days shall be
shortened" that all flesh should not be destroyed
(Matt. 24:22; Mark 13:20). Seven thunders, or prophecies, are uttered (Rev. 10) which are sealed until after the soundinff of the sixth trumpet and revealed when the seventh angel sounds his trumpet (Rev.
10:7; 14). The seven last plagues are then poured
forth from the vials held by the seven angels, and the
destruction of the world is completed as symbolized by
the three sequences of seven, corresponding to the
number 777, but not before the beast is revealed whose
number is 666, the number of imperfection and of a
world given over to judgment. The first heaven and
the first earth pass away, but a new heaven and a new
earth are given, and God's people dwell with Him
throughout eternity (Rev. 21-22).

The above interpretation of the opening of the seven
seals is presented mainly as an effort to justify the
preceding interpretation of Genesis 5 and the 6 + 1
"days" of creation. Our purpose is to remove an apparent conflict between modern science and a literal
interpretation of Genesis, not to add to the already
voluminous literature on the Apocalypse of John.10,11

The sacred number 7 is also associated with Christ,
the Messiah, in the following ways:

Daniel 9:24, 25. "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the
transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to
make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in
everlasting righteouness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know, therefore, and understand that from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks and
three score and two weeks".

Luke 3. Jesus is 77 in the genealogy of Luke 3
which traces Jesus' ancestry through the priestly line
back to God. Thus, God is number one, Adam is number two, Seth is number three, Cainan (not included in genealogies of Gen. 5-11 or I Chronicles 1-2) is
fourteen, and Joseph (or Mary)12 is seventy six.

Matt. 1. As stated in Matthew 1 :17, the genealogy of
Matthew I traces Jesus' ancestry through the royal line
of David back to Abraham by three successions of the
number 14.

The numbers 7 and 14 are frequently associated
with the sacrifice of lambs. Thus, in Numbers 29:12-38
peculiar rules are given for the sacrificing of bullocks,
rams, lambs, and a kid during the seven successive
days of a feast which begins in the middle of the
seventh month. The sum of the day of the feast and
the number of bullocks offered on that day is 14 for
the fifteenth through the twenty first day of the
month. There are 7 feast days and on each of these
days 14 lambs are offered. The ratio of lambs offered to rams offered is 7 for each day including the final
day of assembly. The total number of bullocks offered
on the feast days is seventy. The total number of kids
offered in this time is seven. On the day of assembly
exactly 7 lambs are offered.

The use of the number seven as a symbol for completeness is found in Matthew 18:21-22 where we
read that Jesus admonished Peter to forgive a brother not just seven times, but until
seventy
times
seven.
Also, the sprinkling of blood upon the mercy seat and
the altar was to be done seven times (Lev. 16:14, 19) ;
Joshua marched the
seven
priests with the
seven
trumpets around Jericho
seven
times on the
seventh
day; the Israelites were commanded to keep the passover by eating unleavened bread for
seven
days and
on the
seventh
day to hold a solemn assembly to the
Lord and do no work (Ex. 13:6; Deut. 16:3, 4, 8).

The sabbatical day, the sabbatical year, and the year
of jubilee indicate the significance of the number
seven
as a symbol for a complete cycle of time ending in a
holy seventh period (Ex. 20:9-11: 31:15-17: 21:2;
23:10-11; Lev. 25).

While the above interpretation of Genesis 1-5 may
remove an apparent conflict with modern science, it
also brings us back to the Jewish tradition that there
will be six millenary periods followed by a sabbatical millennium. The question arises whether these millennia are to be computed on the basis of prophetic
years of 360 days
12
or of ordinary years according
to the modern calendar. The difference by the year
2000 A. D. would amount to 29 years. Since Jesus
began his public ministry in 29 A. D., then 2000 prophetic years beginning with this date will end in 2000
A.D.

There
Is
reason to believe that the "abomination of
desolation" mentioned in Daniel 12:11 and referred to
by Jesus in Matthew 24:15 may be the Moslem
mosque built by order of the caliph Omar on the site
of the sacred stone in the temple area of Jerusalem
and which in its present form is known as the Dome
of the Rock.13 Reckoning the 1335 years of the prophecy in Daniel 12:12 from the date of construction
of Omar's mosque also brings one to about the year
2000 A. D.

We are thus led to regard the year 2000 A. D. with
some interest.* It is a striking fact that the world population appears to be increasing toward infinity by the
year 2000 A. D. as shown by Fig. 1 in which the
population curve approaches asymptotically the vertical line at 2000 A. D. As pointed out by Harrison
Brown,14 the world can probably not support more
than 100 billion persons, and the actual population
by the year 2000 A. D. would undoubtedly be much

*It is not our purpose to call attention to a particular date.
The end of the sixth millennium is uncertain by at least t 4
years, and perhaps _t 30 years, because the beginning of the
fifth millennium might be reckoned from Christ's birth in 4
B.C. or from the beginning or end of Christ's public ministry.

less than this. Since the Great Tribulation will pre
sumably take place before the year 2000 A. D. according to the above interpretation, the world population
may be drastically reduced before the beginning of the
sabbatical millennium.